It’s an open thread! Pleeeeease feel free to chat, blogwhore, and link-share in the comment thread…

My cartoon sockpuppet Bookworm Bob & I aren’t happy. Peter LaBarbera can’t seem to stop talking about Amanda Simpson — and Matt Barber is still talkative and making comments about how dangerous it is that Amanda Simpson has been appointed — while our Wiener Story Of The Day is about Lou Sheldon and Andrea Lafferty (of the Traditional Values Coalition) again using antitransgender pejoratives.

Bookworm Bob and I are not happy campers. It seems somebody slipped some Haterade into our camping supplies.

So anywho, below is the conservative “Christian”Haterade that my cartoon sockpuppet Bookworm Bob and I have been looking at (and listening to) since this past Thursday…It’s a Haterade version of This & That this weekend.

…Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality is not surprised that Simpson was appointed. “This is a man — and by the way he is a man; he’s not a woman — who is one of the leaders in crusading for so-called ‘civil rights’ based on gender-confused behavior,” he points out.

According to an online biography, Simpson served as commissioner on Tucson’s Commission on GLBT Issues, as a board member for such groups as the Tucson Corporate LGBT Coalition and the Southern Arizona Gender Alliance, and as a member of numerous other “diversity” and LGBT rights groups.

But LaBarbera says there is a bigger issue than just the one appointment to a federal government post.

“Obama is supporting ENDA — the Employment Non-Discrimination Act — with a transsexual provision,” he shares, “meaning that if that version of the bill gets through and Obama signs it, we will have businesses being forced to accommodate gender-confused individuals in the name of civil rights.”

LaBarbera adds it is time for America to wake up to the agenda of the Obama administration.

Wait, there’s more rom the AFA! And, it’s even more heinous than their OneNewsNow article! …

President Barack Obama made history on New Year’s Eve when he appointed the former Mitchell Simpson, who now identifies himself as a female named Amanda, to a position as a senior adviser in the Commerce Department.

Simpson apparently is the first transgendered individual to become a presidential appointee to the federal government, and Simpson was quoted as saying that he hopes “I will soon be one of hundreds.” Gay activists are celebrating his appointment as a milestone in their crusade for special rights, recognition and approval for homosexual, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered behavior.

…The American Family Association (AFA) believes the appointment is a severe mistake, because it puts the weight of the federal government behind the normalization of sexual deviancy.

Tim Wildmon, president of AFA, said, “‘Amanda’ is a biological male in every cell of his body, and no amount of surgical mutilation is ever going to change that. It’s a mistake for our president to appoint such a sexually confused individual to a position of public responsibility.

“Gender is assigned by the Creator at the moment of conception, and no healthy society should ever regard sexual mutilation, even if it’s self-inflicted, as something that’s normal and merits approval. But that’s exactly the kind of signal the president has sent here. This appointment should be rescinded immediately.”

Bryan Fischer, AFA’s director of issues analysis, adds that there are some important psychiatric issues that need to be considered here: “According to the American Psychiatric Association, transgenderism is a mental health ‘disorder.’ That’s their word, not ours. This means bluntly that mental health professionals believe that Simpson is suffering from mental illness. Simpson needs therapeutic help, not a position where’s he’s shaping public policy.

“As they say in Washington, ‘personnel is policy.’ By this appointment, the president has normalized sexual confusion, sexual mutilation, and mental health disorders, and has contributed to the terrible practice of defining deviancy down in America. This appointment is bad for America.”

[Below the fold is a more "Haterade" from Peter LaBarbera, Matt Barber commenting for his former employer Concerned Women For America, and the Wiener Story Of The Day (that features commentary from the Traditional Values Coalition)]

According to various media reports, President Obama has hired a transgender woman as a senior adviser at the Commerce Department – but the White House is refusing to confirm the appointment.

_____ Simpson, now known as “Amanda” following a sex change, is said to have been appointed senior technical adviser at the Commerce Department. He purportedly began work today.

The Commerce website now lists an “Amanda Simpson” in its directory along with a Bureau of Industry and Security e-mail address. The directory does not list a phone number for “Amanda.” …

…Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth, a “national organization devoted exclusively to exposing and countering the homosexual activist agenda,” jokingly asked if there is some sort of “transgender quota” in the Obama administration.

“How far does this politics of gay and transgender activism go?” he said. “Clearly this is an administration that is pandering to the gay lobby.” …

Peter LaBarbera seems to be the go to person for antitransgender hate speech — WingNutDaily, the American Family Association, and Focus On The Family‘s CitizenLink. Apparently, Peter LaBarbera is the “go to guy” for antitransgender commentary for the conservative “Christian” media and organizations.

The start of 2010 was marked by President Obama’s appointment of a transgender man to a high Commerce Department advisory position. While the former Raytheon Missile Systems test pilot, named Amanda Simpson, is qualified for the position which advises on international sales of security-sensitive technology, questions are being raised about Simpson’s transgender activism. Matt Barber, Director of Cultural Affairs for Liberty Counsel Action, notes that Simpson was nominated for this position by the National Center for Transgender Equality and that Simpson is personally a transgender activist. Most notably, he adds that Simpson’s statement following the appointment is one of an activist, not of a civil service professional.

Excerpt from the audio:

Martha Kleder: Hey, President Obama has named a transgender…the first transgender political appointee — A Mr. Amanda Simpson. Tell us about him.

Matt Barber: Yeah. Well [Laughs], Mr. Amanda Simpson. That’s a mouthful, isn’t it? That’s the reality — this gentleman calls himself “Amanda” — his renamed himself “Amanda,” I guess, after embracing a female gender identity. This person is by all accounts is actually qualified for this position — has a fairly impressive professional career.

The problem is that it seems that he was not so much placed in this position — there are ostensively thousands of people of equal or higher qualification that would of fit for this position as a technical annalist for the Department of Commerce, but by all indications this individual was not appointed so much for his professional credentials as he was for his wardrobe. [Laughs] It’s Political Correctness run amok. And, this is President Obama making good on his promise — before he was inaugurated — that he basically has signed off on every single demand of the radical homosexual and transgender lobbies.

Martha Kleder: Is there any danger to having a transgender nominee in the federal government? Does this have any implications for the application of ENDA and hate crimes — if they’re passed?

Matt Barber: Well, it does. And here’s why: You know, I’ve had a number of people — I’ve commented on this publicly since it occurred, and I regularly get hate mail, as you know, and have a number of people who say that “If you had your way , a person who identifies as transgender would not get any job, anywhere” er…But that’s not the case at all.

The problem with this appointment — and what is most troubling about it…several things that are troubling about it — But first of all, this person is not just, y’know, somebody who is going to engage — or has a history of professionalism — this is a person who is a radical transgender activist. Mr. Simpson was — is a board member of a radical homosexual activist group called Out And Equal, and is on the board of the National Center For Transgender Equality, so called. These are extremist organizations with an extremist agenda that runs counter to our traditional, Judeo-Christian founding, and to the traditional values and traditional family model that our nation has lived…was founded upon — and the vast majority of Americans embraced.

Martha Kleder: Matt, that brings up another point as how Amanda Simpson’s nomination fits in with Kevin Jennings and many of the others…Chai Feldblum — it’s seems as though it’s not so much a homosexual or a transgender person that is being nominated here, it’s an activist for those causes.

Matt Barber: Well, that’s exactly right. These are radicals — activists — that are being placed in these extremely powerful and influential positions by President Obama. That’s by design. He knows exactly what he’s doing.

It’s not secret that Obama has a number of radical affiliations. We knew this — y’know there were a number of us screaming from the rooftops — that he had radical affiliations: William Ares, and Jeremiah Wright, and on and on it goes.

He just seems, as if his administration — as his presidency continues — he just seems to appoint more and more radicals to positions of influence. And, people who are more radical than the next. This is another example of that. And, it’s very unfortunate.

We have to take and stop for a moment, Martha, and consider that the American Psychiatric Association — the APA — no bastion of conservativism, mind you [laughs]…This is basically is leftist political organization, with, y’know, the tag “Psychiatric Association” on it — They even acknowledge that transgenderism is a disorder! Is Gender Identity Disorder!

Mr. Simpson, this gentleman, is a man who is dangerously confused. He is not…healthy, unfortunately. He has a mental disorder!

But here’s what’s mind boggling to me. He was not appointed to this position by President Obama in spite of his gender confusion, he was placed in this position in large part due to his gender confusion. So this is not some kind of an attempt to combat discrimination, or, y’know, to show tolerance or diversity: This is pure political correctness. This is attempt to desensitize America to this ridiculous notion of transgender status of…and to “normalize” this in the minds of America society.

Y’know, Matt Barber goes from saying he doesn’t want to stop transgender people from being gainfully employed, but then he calls Amanda Simpson — and by extention in his phrasing — that all trans people are “dangerously confused.”

Would you hire someone who is “dangerously confused”? What exactly is the danger? The “danger” of trans people seems to be found only in the pure, unadulterated hyperbole both Barber and Kleder use.

Hey Matt, take a look at how many ministers and pious conservatives have been caught engaging in sexual misconduct of late — with many priests and ministers being accused of sexually abusing children. Society has much more to fear from your camp’s dangerous, pious perverts than your camp has to fear from trans people.

• Our Wiener Story Of The Day is from the Traditional Values Coalition (TVC). We don’t know if it was Lou Sheldon or Andrea Lafferty who used the antitrans pejorative “she-male” in their piece Obama Appoints She-Male To Commerce Post, but whichever of the two it was, both of these wieners (as officers of the TVC) get to own their continued use of antitrans pejoratives:

President Obama may be breaking most of his campaign promises to Americans, but he’s keeping his promises to gays, lesbians, bisexuals and she-males (euphemistically known as “transgenders”).

…The liberal YWCA recognized Simpson as one of their “Woman on the Move” in 2004, despite the fact that Simpson is still a man. He dresses like a woman and underwent surgical procedures to remove his male sex organs, had fake breasts created and his adam’s apple removed, but he isn’t a woman and never will be. His DNA doesn’t change.

In short, Simpson is a she-male without male sex organs. He is a surgically mutilated man who is pretending to be a woman and pushing a political agenda.

The Commerce Department will now be forced to deal with Simpson’s she-male status in restrooms and whatever shower facilities are available at the department. Real women at Commerce will be forced into uncomfortable restroom situations with Simpson. It is likely that they will be forced into sensitivity training sessions to be taught to accept and affirm Simpson’s blurry and bizarre sexual status.

He is a gender confused individual who has a treatable mental condition known as a Gender Identity Disorder (GID). Individuals with this condition are uncomfortable with their birth sex and feel that they must reject their birth sex and live as the opposite sex. They need psychiatric help, not surgery or public affirmation for a mental illness…

Where would one even begin pointing out all that is wrong with the TVC Haterade? Misgendering Ms. Simpson? Would it be the pejoratives? The dimisal of her accomplishments by calling her mentally ill? Well, Lou Sheldon and Andrea Lafferty are definitely today’s wieners.

*Sigh.*

When many of these conservative “Christian” folk from multiple conservative “Christian” organizations try to say they’re not homophobic and transphobic bigots, their words certainly chalenge those assertions. When these folk intentionally misgender trans people, and use anti-transgender pejoratives, and identify trans people as “dangerous,” then they engage in hate speech. And, they know it.

So anywho…It’s an open thread! What are you thinking about today, or what books or articles have you been reading the past few days? Wanna share?

And again, please feel free to chat, blogwhore, and link-share in the comment thread because…it’s an open thread! Woo-hoo!

31 Responses
to “Weekend This & That: Open Thread”

“”As they say in Washington, ‘personnel is policy.’ By this appointment, the president has normalized sexual confusion, sexual mutilation, and mental health disorders, and has contributed to the terrible practice of defining deviancy down in America”

Ummm…Yay! ?!?
While I’d have to work really hard to object more strongly to the terms the bigot uses, I can’t say I disagree, and I think it is hugely positive.
I’d say it a little differently:
“As they say in Washington, ‘personnel is policy.’ By this appointment, the president has normalized awareness of gender diversity, gender reassignment surgery, and minority experiences of gender and identity, and has contributed to the longstanding tradition of recognizing diversity in America.
So again, yay!

I really love the term “gender confusion,”as if a trans identity was just a little slip-up, like using the salt instead of the pepper. I don’t think there are too many people (if any at all) who would undergo “6 surgeries at cost of $70,000″ simply because they were confused; confusion is what makes you hit the wrong button on the remote, not undergo a long round of expensive surgery.
In passing, I have to mention that Barber has singled me out for his special opprobrium. It happened over at JoeMyGod; the story’s here: http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2… I’d like to thank Matt very sincerely. I think of this as a kind of Gay Medal of Honor.

I think these types are beyond “fake christians”I’m not a religious expert but it seems to me.
1. They do not even believe in heaven or hell
2. Or a judgment by their creator.
You would think If they were true followers of Christ (as they claim) they would be scared shitless to even think such hate and cruelty toward fellow children of God much less voice it.
May God have mercy on their (heartless) souls.
Dena

Fun-DAMN-entalistsFunny how Matt Barber relies on the APA (and DSM-IV) to make the claim “transgenderism is a disorder”, yet he conveniently ignores the same organization when the APA says that reparative [sic?] therapy doesn’t work. I’m not ready to call that being a hypocrite, but it is at least quite inconsistent.
I have a proposition for the Xtian fundamentalists in this country. They should join forces with radical Islam, as I see that they share at least 3 goals (and I’m sure there are others) off the top of my head.
1) Establishing a theocracy in every country of the world.
2) Making sure that EVERYONE has been converted to their religion.
3) Ridding the world of homosexuals (or whatever sexual minority they can quantify by their varying and arbitrary standards).

“radical transgender activist”I’m sure in their small minds anyone who has been honest in stating their gender has not always lined with their outward appearance is one.
Or one who has figured it out and is doing something about it. Like living as they should have all along.
Even in the face of discrimination. Verbal and physical violence. Death.
In that case I’m proud to call myself a radical transgender activist.
Dena

Spent most of the day laying out the painting I’ll be doing at the dome eventLaying in most of the background which has a harlequin pattern in shades of oranges,(the whole theme of the party is orange.) It’s hard doing some of a painting so it still appears I’m doing it at the dome, when most of it will be painted, and I’ll do easy detail work at the event. It’ll be kind of a generic poster looking design similar to ones for Mardi Gras. I’ll take some photos of it as it progesses along.

completely unrelated to any of the stories in the free threadmy mom and I are making room for two more additions to our family by adopting two cats later on today :) I also happened to gain a rejection letter from my top choice college and it’s been a deep blow to me. I cried for about an hour and a half before I had to go to rowing practice, where I just about beat everyone on an erg test using my anger and aggression as a medium to own most of them. The cats are a replacement for a wonderful adopted Beagle that I had since 2004. The dog died from being attacked by another dog while they were eating (he really died from the sedatives or after-surgery effects from being stitched and having puncture wounds filled).. he was 12ish, the other dog that attacked was a 3 year old pit bull mix (she’s not going to be punished at all. I can’t let my brother put down his own family pet regardless of what happened. His dog is a real sweety anyways and probably didn’t mean it). Just a freak accident involving not feeding the dogs in separate rooms.

TSinGarnNC16 Sorry to hear of your rejection letter, those are never easy. You might find taking a year at another school, would then give you another try at applying to your first choice school. Hope your new kitties take your mind off your disappointment.

I burnt my oatmeal this morning.I am sure alot of bloggers are like me, put something on the stove, get to blogging and burn what’s cooking. Last month I burned sugar in a pan and went to a hardware store for advice. They said throw the pan away.
After much research I finally found a simple way of getting the burnt charcoal off the pan. It was thick so the idea of scubbing with soap pads was out. The helpful hint is this.
Boil peroxide the kind you gargle with from Walmart. The burnt food lifts right off and saves the pan. It just took a minute to boil off the stuck crispy oatmeal. Otherwise, hours of scrubbing.

Not Just Sexual MinoritiesAlthough gay people are their primary target (obviously), throw in religious minorities and Atheists.
That includes Maggie’s Hindu/Buddhist husband. Why would he want to be with a cow who despises him and refuses to take his last name because it sounds “too ethnic”?

Gender ConfusionAs I begin my mtf transition, it is so comforting to know that I am just confused and that there is help for me yet. I guess the years of self exploration leading up to the realization I am transgendered were just part of a plot by the radical therapist conspiracy to dupe me into ‘mutilating’ myself. Whew! i’m so glad I saw the light before it’s too late.

That TVC ArticleAutumn, that TVC article is one of the most utterly disgusting articles that I’ve read from anyone in a long time. I am starting to feel physically ill. So I posted it to my facebook so others can also feel physically ill with me, lol, or at least get some word out somewhere. I don’t know if I should thank you for posting this or get very annoyed because I managed to miss this article of perpetual trash in all the articles I’ve read up to now, but either way, thanks for keeping us all informed.
A year ago I would have gotten so depressed and self-conscious reading an article with that magnitude of filth in it, but I guess I am a lot stronger now. Or maybe just a little tougher emotionally than I used to be.
That being said, I think I am going to go throw up now…

Here’s to you, Mrs. Robinson, Jesus loves you more than you will know, wo-wo-woHere is a scandal on so many levels it represents a rip in the time-space continuum. H/T to Dan Savage.http://slog.thestranger.com/sl…
And we thought GOP family-values congressmen set new levels of hypocrisy.

Off to NOLA pre-butt crack of dawnThe painting is just about ready to bring to the dome, I had to do more of it than I planned they are being putz’s about any paint on the dome floor, so I’ll just do the details with paint pens and chalk.
today we load all the props and tomorrow night is the party.

You’re very welcome, I think……for such a uncomfortable endorsement.
There is agreement between us, Amerilia, that the TVC article was horrid, which is why it actually made it to the Wiener Story Of The Day.

Tim Wildmon, molecular geneticistBecause he must be one, right, to be so very certain that Amanda Simpson is solely and completely a homologously genetic male with NO, NOT ONE, NOT A SINGLE genetic or chromosomal anomaly in the pairings of sex chromosomes in very single cell of her body
BTW Tim….I want to see your Doctorate in molecular genetics. If you are pronouncing on this issue so very definitively, you must have one.
Show us the doctorate!

Oy what-a-dayI got less than 4 hours sleep, then worked from 8am til 8pm and my entire left heel is one blister. And I’ll work all day tomorrow, paint thru the Party for 2 hours, then get stuck doing the break down until near dawn, then a 2 hour drive home.
we got home to having the landlord of our property shutting off all our water main cuz a horse tank behind us must have broken a pipe and was shooting like a geiser. He could have sghut a simple valve at our back hose bib to that tank. So in pitch black with a flashlight I’m routting around some buried valve trap….GRRRRRR!
It’s cold as sh*t here breaking all records for Louisiana.
Then our room mate took off to his day job in the car we drove with my glasses I have to wear to drive.
My entire body aches like someone beat me around the shoulders and back.

Thank G*d that event is overWhat a nightmare. My hubby woke me at 5:30 am sick as a dog, fevers and shaking from chills, he’d had intestinal stuff through the night. So he couldn’t go to the event, and I had to rush to pack the rest of the stuff and leave only grabbing a quick cup of coffee. Both heels have blisters tonight,, and I’m moving like I’m 90 yo. The client loved the decor and the event….thank you Jesus.
I feel like I could sleep for 3 days and my feet hurt so, it’s hard to even have my heel touch the mattress.